Nittany Lines: A Penn State Web Log

By Bill KlineOf The Morning Call

Observations. Commentary. Predictions.

Welcome to year three of Nittany Lines, a Web Log about Penn State football written by Bill Kline, The Morning Call Sunday Editor and a Penn State alumnus who has followed the Nittany Lions for 30 years. Bill will update the Penn State Web Log throughout the season and is looking for your comments and thoughts on the Web Log and the Lions. Please send them to willy22@ptd.net.

What to take, besides a ton of salt and rain-drenched clothes, from Saturday's annual Blue-White scrimmage:

 Michael Robinson is the No. 1 quarterback next fall. He seemed to have a nice rhythm with his receivers, including freshmen Derrick Williams and Justin King. But Robinson was going against the Lions' second string secondary.

 As for QB Anthony Morelli (right), he didn't look polished and showed happy feet in the pocket, even when he was going against the defensive backups. Where's the coaching for the guy? Why can Michigan get Chad Henne ready for the regular season in a couple weeks of summer practice and Penn State can't get Morelli, a guy just as highly touted as Henne, to perform decently in an intrasquad scrimmage after a year in the program? Unless we're missing something, the recommendation here is to red-shirt Morelli next fall -- as long as Robinson stays healthy. Morelli needs the work. Even better, hire a pro QB coach to work with Morelli for a year so he might be ready by fall 2006.

 Paul Cianciolo looks like he could be a decent backup at QB. He showed poise, although not necessarily a strong and accurate arm.

 Justin King (right) and Derrick Williams will be playing next fall. They deserve to play, but JoePa has to play them, just like he had to play Dan Connor and Morelli last fall, and just like he'll have to immediately play all five-star recruits their first year at Penn State. Five-star recruits won't go to Happy Valley if they see other five-stars red-shirting for JoePa their freshman year.

 Let's not get carried away just yet, but it will be great to see young guns King and Williams on the field at the same time next fall -- drawing attention from defenders who must respect their speed. As Robinson told The Morning Call's Beth Hudson: "Let's just put them on wheels and see what happens. They're going to be able to stretch the defense in ways we haven't been able to do. It could be a glimpse of what may happen in the fall."

 Williams (right) fielded punts on Saturday, although returns were not allowed under the scrimmage format. It would be great to see Williams returning punts next fall; certainly he can't do worse than incumbent Calvin Lowry.

 We didn't learn much about placekicking on Saturday. We'll have to wait on that one.

 Good to see defensive end Lavon Chisley out there on Saturday for, what, his eighth Blue-White game? I think he's been around so long he remembers when Penn State had a winning program.

JoePa called out Austin Scott on Saturday, saying he has been inconsistent. But Scott, who was injured this spring, still has a load of opportunity because the Lions don't have much at tailback besides Tony Hunt (right) and third-down back Rodney Kinlaw. Tailback is going to have to be a recruiting priority the next year or so.

Sideline sightings included -- besides the members of the 1994 team that were honored at halftime -- Lavar Arrington, Brandon Short and Larry Johnson.

JoePa keeps saying the Lions are not that far off. Well, it's time to close that gap, no matter how small it is. Fans are tired of losing.

Guess what I have in common with every single member of the 2004 Penn State football team? We all studied at Penn State and none of us were drafted by the NFL on Saturday or Sunday.

E-MAIL FROM READERS

From Richard Walls: Who cares? College football is about as honest as pro wrestling. Money, money, money's the name of the game.

SEE YOU IN AUGUST

Nittany Lines returns in late August. See you then.

QUESTIONS, ANYONE?

Send your questions and comments about Penn State football to: psu77@ptd.net